Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Summer Fun Out of the Office = Focused Attention in the Office

Do you want to get more focused in the summer?

Is your family outside playing and your friends are having fabulous summer fun while you’re stuck in the office?

Here’s a tip. If you really want to increase your productivity in the summer, consider booking in time — just for you and for play. That means, not working sometimes on a weekend. It means leaving your smartphone turned off over a weekend. Use the time for those you care about for true recovery time. That way when you are at the office you work really hard.

Often when I work with clients in the summer, they would rather be outside than inside. Can you consider closing the office earlier on a Friday or establish a flexible summer schedule? Maybe leaving a little earlier if you work in an office with others. Do this throughout the summer and encourage others to do the same. Everyone’s productivity will increase as a result of the extra time off to pay attention to fun, friends and family. You’d be ah-mazed to see how morale increases and focus skyrockets.

When you are home, on vacation or simply away from the office enjoying summer weather, don’t contaminate your relaxation. Put away distractions and encourage your team to do the same. Discourage leaders, peers and employees from emailing, or messaging after hours, allowing everyone to step away, both physically and mentally from work.

Lastly, when you’re out of the office, reduce the anticipatory anxiety that comes with returning to too much email. So often my my clients complain that they have way too much email and it discourages them from unplugging and truly stepping away from work. The reality is, email is part of doing the job. It’s not the job. So during the summer, if you want to increase the productivity of your email, use your ‘Out of Office’ function. If you are going to be out of your office for summer hours or if you are going to a conference or if you have long meetings for the day, I encourage you to put an ‘Out of Office’ message on. This will increase your productivity is it will manage the expectations of people who get a bounce back from you.

Need ideas for how you can enjoy summer fun while maximizing productivity and focus in your office? Give me a call! I’d be happy to help.